WADE BRACKENBURY
Written in a clean, well paced way, Yak Butter and Black Tea is more than your average adventure story of someone heading off into the wilderness in search of a Shangri La.
Travel changes you, and moves you, but it rarely gets you arrested, as was the case with Wade. Brazing Chinese bureaucracy, a dishonest and sneaky travel mate, Brackenbury deals with set back and problem after problem that would have caused most travelers to throw up their hands and return home.
But thats not what Brackenbury is made of.
He is not a quitter.
He kept on going, finally venturing into the almost mythical beauty of the valley he was so intent on finding, so rare an experience in our explored, ov er exposed world where everything seems to have been done.
Overall, the book has a more urgent feel than The Snow Leopard, where the author of Black Tea becomes obsessed with being the first to see the Drung, dreading the gutted feeling he would have if he found out someone else (a westerner) had been there first. It takes on the obsession of a gold prospector, searching for that gem that will change everything.
The ending of Yak Butter and Black Tea is a poignant one, and swerves from the adventures, arrests, hardships and more experienced by Brackenbury as he journeyed into this almost unknown corner of this Himalayan region.
An excellent read of a very personal journey.